FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2006 file photo, Yusuf Bey IV, center, walks into the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland Calif. A grand jury has indicted Bey , the former leader of the now-defunct Your Black Muslim ... more

Photo: Dan Rosenstrauch, AP

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FILE - In this undated file photo, Devaughndre Broussard is seen in this booking photo provided by the Oakland Police Department. A grand jury on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, voted to indict Yusuf Bey IV, 23, in the killing of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey, who was shot as he walked to work in 2007, said Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Chris Lamiero. The grand jury also indicted Broussard, 21, in Bailey's killing as well as that of another man, the prosecutor said. (AP Photo/Oakland Police Department via the San Francisco Chronicle, file) less

FILE - In this undated file photo, Devaughndre Broussard is seen in this booking photo provided by the Oakland Police Department. A grand jury on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, voted to indict Yusuf Bey IV, 23, in ... more

Photo: AP

Bakery defense calls star witness a murdering liar

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(05-19) 17:18 PDT OAKLAND -- The case against the former head of Your Black Muslim Bakery, accused of ordering the slayings of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men, is built upon an admitted "stone-cold murderer" and "prolific liar" who brokered a deal with prosecutors, defense attorneys told jurors Thursday.

Former bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard killed Bailey and a second man, changed his story countless times and then decided to get his "free ticket out" by testifying against former bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV and an associate, Antoine Mackey, in exchange for a 25-year sentence, said Bey's attorney, Gene Peretti.

"He hit the lottery," said Peretti, adding that "the district attorney's office jumped for the bait, like a dolphin leaping up for a sardine."

In his closing argument in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, Peretti asked jurors, "Would you trust this man with your family's life? You wouldn't even buy a used car from him. This is the person you're being asked to believe."

Broussard, 23, a "stone-cold murderer," is going to be "roaming the streets in his 40s, God forbid," Peretti said. "Twenty-five? I'll lie - it's easy. Say, 'Yusuf Bey IV made me do it. He ordered me to do it.' That's all he has to say, and that started the ball rolling."

Guilt by association

Gary Sirbu, Mackey's attorney, told jurors in his summation that Bailey's slaying represented a "lethal assault on freedom of the press to report on issues of community interest."

But Mackey didn't kill anyone and should not be convicted based on guilt by association, said Sirbu, who also blasted Broussard as a "prolific liar" who was following a script in a "paper-thin" case.

"The only problem is that the script is not truthful, but he's got to protect it," Sirbu said.

Earlier Thursday, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Krum told jurors, "Sometimes you've got to make a deal with a demon to get the devil."

Plea deal

Bailey, 57, was shot to death as he was working on a story about the financial and other turmoil surrounding the bakery. Broussard has admitted to firing the shotgun blasts that killed the journalist as he walked to his job at the Oakland Post on Aug. 2, 2007.

Broussard's testimony before a grand jury led to Bey's indictment on three counts of murder for allegedly ordering the deaths of Bailey, 31-year-old Odell Roberson and a third man, Michael Wills Jr., 36.

Broussard pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in the Bailey and Roberson killings, in exchange for an expected 25-year sentence.

Peretti acknowledged that Bey may not have liked Bailey because the journalist wrote about child-molestation allegations against Bey's late father, Your Black Muslim Bakery founder Yusuf Bey Sr., and was investigating the bakery's finances.

But "it's not a significant motive," Peretti said. If Bey hated the journalist so much while his father was still alive, the lawyer said, "Why not kill Chauncey Bailey back then?"

'He's a sociopath'

Asked outside court why Broussard killed Bailey, Peretti said, "Who knows why he did? I don't know if he did it because he thought it was going to be something that would score him some points. Who knows what he thinks? He's obviously a crazy person. He's a sociopath."

Peretti told jurors that Bey was not the shot-caller that the prosecution portrayed him to be.

"He can't corral chickens and hens," Peretti said, arguing that a secretly recorded police video of Bey chuckling with bakery members about Bailey's slaying shows him unsuccessfully trying to tell the others what to do.

"He's cajoling, he's not ordering," said Peretti, who ended his argument by saying, "Justice demands a verdict of not guilty."

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Krum will present her final argument to the jury Monday, after which Judge Thomas Reardon will instruct panelists and send them to deliberate.

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